Blog List

Great theater in Sherburn ...

November 21, 2013 - Lee Smith

So, I enjoyed two experiences recently: Went to the Sherburn theater for the first time ever and saw “Captain Phillips,” which is, of course, the new movie starring Tom Hanks.

The theater is fun because it’s downtown, like something out of the 1950s. It’s really inexpensive. Admission is $3. Snacks are cheap. I feel sorry I haven’t been wise enough to go before. The theater itself is just one screen in a big auditorium, with pretty cool decor.

The movie was good. Tom Hanks is always good. “Captain Phillips” tells the true-life tale of a commercial freighter that is hijacked by Somali pirates. It can be pretty intense, and pretty interesting in the ways the men on the freighter try to outwit and outmaneuver the pirates in the moments leading up to the capture of Captain Phillips, who becomes the source of a standoff between the pirates and the U.S. Navy.

There are moments in the middle when the film seems to drag on a little bit. But not too bad. Captain Phillips — Hanks — is an interesting character who wants to get away from the pirates but also feels sympathy for these young men, their physical wounds and their pitiful lives.

I wouldn’t say there are any major gaps in plot, but there is certainly something wrong with the commercial freighter industry — or regulations governing it — if ships cannot defend themselves from piracy. A simple arsenal of a few machine guns in this instance would have helped scare off or fight off the pirates. I don’t know all the rules about commerce on the high seas, but it just doesn’t make sense to subject freighters to harassment and hijacking when they could be defending themselves better.